Tom Holland talks how ‘The Crowded Room’ made him focus on mental health

Tom Holland’s recent role in upcoming Apple TV+ series, The Crowded Room took a toll on him which eventually led him to work on his mental health.

The 26-year-old actor shared in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, published May 9th, 2023, that he is one year and four months sober.

The Uncharted actor stars as lead and is also an executive producer on Akiva Goldsman’s series. Holland portrays a shy, anti-social teen from Upstate New York who is arrested after a shooting at the Rockefeller Center in 1979.

The Spider-Man: No Way Home actor shared that while working on the show, he was better able his own mental health, the people in his life and the tragic events that led up to the incident.

“Learning about mental health and the power of it, and speaking to psychiatrists about [the characters] Danny and Billy’s struggles, has been something that has been so informative to my own life,” he said, noting that he’d become better at “recognising triggers” and stressors, such as social media.

Holland added that while he is “no stranger” to the “physical aspects” of the job, but the mental aspect “really beat me up.”

“It took a long time for me to recover afterwards, to sort of get back to reality,” he admitted.

Holland recalled one moment when he felt a need to distance himself from his character after nine months of filming.

“I was seeing myself in him, but in my personal life,” the actor said. “I remember having a bit of a meltdown at home and thinking, like, ‘I’m going to shave my head. I need to shave my head because I need to get rid of this character.’ And, obviously, we were mid-shooting, so I decided not to … It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.”

Tom Holland also added that he hopes that The Crowded Room will lead the viewers “have more respect and more sympathy for people who are going through mental health issues.”